PARK CITY, Utah — A Utah company has developed "lunar concrete" with the aim of building durable structures on the Moon, with the aim of finalizing a prototype by the end of 2022.
Uplift Aerospace, Inc. of Park City commissioned the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to analyze dirt from the Moon's South pole so that they could formulate their product.
This analysis was used for formulation of Uplift’s Luna-CreteTM, a product to be used for infrastructure and building materials to be mined and processed on the Moon.
Experiments with lunar concretes began in the 1980s, but waned after moon landings lost government funding. However, the dream of "Moon travel" has been revived by private interests and the government, with the potential for space travel to the Moon and Mars.
According to the Uplift, the Moon may even be viewed by NASA as a refueling station for extended space travel.
Uplift reports that NASA’s Artemis mission is exploring the development of lunar outposts in the foreseeable future if building materials can be proven to withstand the Moon's surface. Initial experiments on the Moon for commercialization are expected to be as early as the next two years.
“Optimizing the right formulation to withstand the wide range of temperatures found on the Moon, as well as its low gravity and vacuum-like conditions has been a huge challenge to overcome," said Josh Hanes, CEO of Uplift Aerospace.
"However, we are happy to officially announce history’s first south pole specific lunar concrete with results surpassing target durability ranges by as much as 2x”.
Visit Uplift Aerospace's website to find out more and get the latest updates on this project.
